The Seer and the Savior
by Tabby Kitten
Summary: Sybill Trelawney's first prediction and its aftermath


"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not . . . and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives . . . the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies . . ."

Sybill was pretty sure she'd blacked out, since she definitely didn't remember the last few minutes. This interview was just bloody spectacular now, wasn't it? She looked up and saw Dumbledore's shocked face. "I'm sorry, Professor." she mumbled. "I must have overdone it with the sherry at dinner . . ."

Dumbledore didn't move, only kept staring at her with that strange face. She gathered her shawls and made to stand up, but he motioned for her to sit back down. Finally he spoke. "Sybill. Do you know what you have just done?"

"I blacked out." she whispered. "I'm sorry, Professor, I'll see myself out."

"No, no, Sybill." said Dumbledore. "You have just made me a true prediction, one in keeping with those of your great-great-grandmother Cassandra Trelawney."

Sybill gasped. A true prophecy? She'd always done well in divination in school, had wanted to be like her great-great-grandmother, but believed she would come up short. She hadn't had the inner eye; she'd been giving people false predictions just to make some cash! "Are you sure, Professor? I mean, how did you know for sure?"

"There are yet many things I don't know," said Dumbledore, a twinkle in his eye, "But I do recognize a true prophecy when I see one. I think you will make a wonderful divination professor at Hogwarts. True seers do tend to be the very best in this field." He smiled and made to leave.

"Professor!" Sybill called after him. "What—what did I foretell?"

His face turned grave. "Something that will permanently alter the course of our world, that is for sure. You spoke of one who will have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. Now, I have a few guesses as to whom your prophecy might concern, but I must do more research. If you'll excuse me, I have important matters to tend to. See you on campus in September." And with that, he opened the door and left.

Six Months Later

Curious whispers flew up and down the staff table at the start-of-term feast. Word had gotten out by now, and while no one new the full contents of the prophecy except for Dumbledore, several staff members already knew the general content of the prophecy.

Sybill adjusted her large glasses, wrapped her shawl a little more tightly around her, and dropped her eyes to avoid the weird looks Slughorn kept giving her. She thought briefly of her little classroom on the top floor and imagined how nice it would be to retreat there, away from the bustle of the castle and the whispers and weird looks from the students and faculty. Hopefully it would all blow over soon and the school would move on to some new piece of gossip.

"Attention!" Dumbledore's voice boomed over the crowd. "Now before we can send you all off to bed, we have some changes to the staff to announce. First off, I would like to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Quintus Begnold!" A wide-set, plain faced wizard stood up and the students applauded, the younger ones excited and the older ones jaded from having welcomed too many new professors in this subject. "In addition, I would like to announce our new divination teacher, Professor Sybill Trelawney!"

Sybill stood up awkwardly, feeling every eye in the hall swing towards her. She now felt a little self-conscious in her long shawls, beads, and large glasses, but one needed them to amplify the inner eye and see beyond the mundane. Students were poking each other and whispering behind their hands, and Sybill was willing to bet they weren't whispering anything complimentary. Still, they were applauding. Their last divination professor had had a psychotic breakdown in the middle of last year and they needed someone fresh. She wrapped her shawl tighter and tried to muster up a smile for the student body.

The next morning Sybill had third-years first and thus was starting with the very beginning of the curriculum. She brewed a pot of tea and was setting out tea cups as students began to arrive.

"Is it true that you prophesied that someone's going to vanquish you-know-who?" a girl with an awful layered haircut asked as she sat down.

"Do you know who might be able to actually do him in?" the boy next to her asked.

"That's really none of your business, my dears." Sybill told them. "Yes, it was my prophecy, but is not the inner eye's duty to interpret its visions. That is up to Professor Dumbledore and the Ministry. Now if you will please pour cups of tea to begin our tea-leaf reading." Sybill stood back as the new students began sipping their tea. She had to admit that the buzz around this whole prophecy thing was kind of nice. It was better to be known as the one who had predicted the savior of the wizarding world than as the weird lady who gave false predictions in Diagon Alley.

Every time news of more attacks came in, students would discuss the news and make their own conjectures and opinions. Several asked Sybil if she could predict exactly when the Dark Lord would be defeated, to which she had to reply that the inner eye could only see so much. Then they would go back to their mutterings and guessings and analyzings. Some thought word of the prophecy had reached the Dark Lord and was influencing his movements, whereas others thought there was no way he could know.

Sybill was right, however, that as fall term flew by the buzz about her prophecy faded away, replaced by juicy gossip such as Alex Bolton having been caught in the library kissing Lucy Marks and how Henry Gessler had accidentally turned his friend into a mutant field mouse during transfiguration. Privately, Dumbledore informed Sybill that her prophecy had been installed at the Department of Mysteries, and that it was believed to most likely concern Harry Potter. Sybill didn't think much of that since Harry was barely three months old, but she did feel pride swelling in her chest every time she thought about the little orb that contained her prophecy, filed away at the Ministry of Magic. She knew it caused great concern for Dumbledore, and that he was busy putting every protective spell he knew over the Potters.

One Year Later

"James and Lily dead!" Madame Pomfrey sobbed. "Poor baby Harry!"

"It appears he is the one in the prophecy." said Flitwick sadly. "He's saved us all—but dear Lily and James! Gone already!"

"You know what this means," Madame Pomfrey continued, "Harry will be celebrated as a hero in our world. And he deserves it. He's saved all our necks."

"The poor boy." Said Flitwick. "He won't even remember what he's famous for."

Sybill leaned against the wall of the staffroom, breathing heavily. She'd been eagerly anticipating the fall of the Dark Lord, but not like this. Not like this. She'd been a year ahead of James and Lilly in school. To think just a few years ago they'd been students, and now they were gone. Why did she have to predict stuff accurately like this? She turned and left the staffroom, letting the door slam behind her. She wasn't walking anywhere in particular; she just needed to be alone, alone to sort through her thoughts and everything that had happened. She didn't look up until she bumped into Professor Sprout, who was sobbing into a succulent pot.

"Sorry, Pomona. I'll get out of your hair."

"Are you all right?" Professor Sprout asked thickly.

"I . . . um . . ."

"It's all right. You can talk to me. I'm head of Hufflepuff, it's what I'm here for."

"I—I can't help thinking I killed the Potters. I prophesied that their boy would be the one to vanquish you-know-who. He found out, somehow, and went after them. It's my fault."

"You don't know that." said Sprout gently. "You-know-who was already targeting the Potters because they were order members. He could have killed them even without the prophecy. We don't know what his motives were."

"I know. I know. But my prophecy set so much in motion. Sometimes the inner eye is a curse, not a gift."

"So much of it is beyond your control, though. Everything we do creates ripples far beyond our reach. Your prophecy brought about horror and tragedy, but it also brought hope and peace to our world. In the larger picture, you've done a great service to our world. One might even consider you among the heroes of the war."

Sybill nodded and stood up, backing away. If this was heroism, she didn't want it. Let her act fade into oblivion, and she would return to her quiet tower, alone with her crystal balls and tea leaves and hazy curtains. Sybill Trelawney dabbled in many things—palmistry, crystal gazing, knitting—but not heroism. Not when the stakes of it were so high.

**A/N **

**House: Hufflepuff**

**Year: 5**

**Subject: Transfiguration **

**Standard **

**Words: 1,592**

**Prompt: [character] Sybill Trelawney **


End file.
